The methylation of phenol using alumina catalyst produces a bottoms product which currently has no known use except as a fuel for oil-burning furnaces. The bottoms product is a complex mixture of highly alkylated phenols and contains significant amounts of tetramethylphenols and pentamethylphenol.
Cresols are known to be useful as a disinfectant. Moreover, xylenols are known to be useful as a wire enamel solvent. In view of this, it is thus apparent that conversion of the tetramethylphenols and pentamethylphenol, in the bottoms product, to cresols and xylenols would increase significantly the value of the bottoms product. Our invention, therefore, provides a means of increasing the value of the bottoms product.